My daughter needs Tacoma advice......

[woodcanoeguy]

My daughter just bought a 96 Tacoma and now the local dealer tells her they want to charge her $650 to adjust the valves and another $650 to replace the water pump and replace the fan belts. This seems quite high to me....am I out of touch with the costs of Tacoma mechanics?
She is in school at UC Davis....does anyone know a good Toyota mechaic near Sacramento? I would appreciate any help or advice you can give her.

 

[Bear80]

both sound high, I'd say the valve job should be around $400 and the waterpump/betls should be in the $300 range. sorry I'm no help with the mechanic advice.

what's the reason to adjust the vavles. I never touched the valves on my 4runner at over 240k miles.

she would be better off buying the water pump/betls from C-Dan here on the fourm at american toyota and finding a local shop to do the install.

 

[Poriomania]

Don't know about the valves, but the 650 seems not too far off what I was quoted here last fall. The parts aren't much, but there's a decent amount of labor involved. It also depends on what they included in the quote. They should do the timing belt at the same time, since you have to take it off to get to the pump anyway, also they should do the T-stat as well. The price might also include a coolant flush and a couple of idler bearing the timing belt runs over.

From (erratic) memory

timing belt $50
Pump $120 (?)
drive belts $~30
Idlers 80 and 1 something.
T-stat $12

These are the discount prices.

http://www.toy4x4.net/timing_belt/index.htm

This will give you an idea of the procedure.

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Is it a 4 or 6 banger? Seems high too me, but every quote for mechanic work seems high to me...

I broke down in a small town about 6 years ago, spent the night in my van in front of the "auto shop". Then the next morning I dropped my gas tank, and changed the fuel pump myself, then the guy charged me for the work I did........ *%^$*# up! Wasn't the kind of guy to argue with though.....

 

[cedarbarn]

A buddy of mine has a 2002 taco, at 90,000 miles he burnt a valve because they had not been adjusted. He bought the truck used from a dealer, and the dealer told him all the maintenance had been done on the truck. Well, the valve adjustment had not been done, so with the burnt valve he shoved the labor down their throat. The valves need to be adjusted.